Preferred Dental Care

Today was my second visit. And boy, was I for a shock. For someone who takes every step to ensure dental hygiene and had only two cavities all her life, I was told that I had 7 cavities and had to extract all four of my wisdom teeth. Six months ago they never saw it in my X-​rays or visual exam. But today, within a span of six months I had 7 cavities. And I wasn’t experiencing any pain in any of my teeth. No complaints at all.
And once the hygienist was done cleaning my teeth, he tries to sell me a whitening session. I don’t smoke, I don’t drink coffee or drink wine or sodas. And he tells me there’s a summer discount. I smell dental fraud.
And it took them 30 minutes to get someone to see me. 30 minutes!!! It’s safe to say I’m never going there ever again. Please avoid this place.

Had a terrible experience here during my lunch break. Found them on ZocDoc — my appointment was for 12:30 — they asked me if I was sure my appointment was today. I was, I had the confirmation in my hand. I noticed they asked everyone the same question — clearly their backend system is a failure. The staff was great — aside from the dentist.
I finally saw the dentist at 1:17 — what upset me most was the nasty attitude I received from him when I said I needed to leave to get back to work while he was FINALLY checking my teeth. He claimed he could not work like this and threw his hands in the air! I wasn’t late — it was YOUR office that messed up. Also — it’s probably worth mentioning the lack of privacy. Hands down the worst dentist experience I have had in NYC.

If you stop visiting they will call you non-​stop.
Don’t put yourself through it, they call at night…

This is a great office. I got their for regular dental checkups as well as orthodonitic work. The staff is so friendly and helpful.

Don’t ever go there. Such a scam place. I have been going for a few times and every time they try to come up with some excuses for additional charges which are non-​sense. They will say it’s covered by your insurance and then after the treatment they would say oh it’s only covered 80% not 100% so you end up with some annoying bills. Today I went for my last cleaning of the year which is within the coverage. Before I leave they ask for co-​payment which never happened before at other dental offices. Their explanation is today the cleaning is deeper than normal ones and there is a co-​pay. In fact the cleaning is just as normal. I’m very disgusted with they way they try to scam people.

Don’t ever go there. It’s the most unprofessional place in the entire NYC. Waited 2 hours for nothing. They also try to scam you… they tried to charge me $ 120 though I gave them my insurance card and they claimed I wasn’t covered which was a lie. Avoid at all cost. Hope they run out of business

I definitely recommend this place.
I was searching for a dentist that is open on Saturdays because it’s difficult to take off from work. Because I knew I want to get Invisalign and I would need to schedule monthly visits, office availability was important.
Now I found this dentist just by walking pass one day… very random I know! When I walked in I spoke with the receptionist who was very nice and booked my Saturday morning appointment. I was a bit nervous because the Unilocal reviews were not good and I almost canceled twice! Just being honest, I live by Unilocal reviews.
When I came in on Saturday it was as if they made an announcement that a new patient was there because every person I passed greeted me and asked about my experience. I was highly impressed with the service.
I met the doctor who assisted me with my services and he was GREAT. I wanted additional service and recommended I wait! Which is odd because most practices try to get as much money from you as possible. I took care of a few fillings and a cleaning. The also do a free full exam! Because of their discounted prices, my co-​pay was surprising cheap.
I want to be clear for those individuals who use Unilocal as a resource like myself. I was not asked to write this review, but because I had such a great experience and am aware of this business poor reviews, I want to share my perspective. I no longer will need Unilocal for a dentist… back to searching for restaurants ;)

This place is awful. I would also give them negative stars. I went to get my teeth cleaned a few times here because I had a groupon the first time and the cleanings were reasonably cheap. However, each time I returned, the price of cleaning would go up a bit. That seemed fine still. It still wasn’t outrageously expensive. The cleanings went fine. I also happen to never have had to get any dental work done ever. So one time they told me I had 5 – 6 cavities and would need fillings, I was very skeptical. Also, the dentist’s body language was very strange and you could tell he was lying. Then they saw I was being very weirded out by all of them and I was brought into an office with one of the staff who sat at the desks in the front and they were being really fake nice to me. I ran out of there and haven’t returned. I went to my previous Dentist, did xrays, and found 0 cavities. This place really needs to be reported to BBB. They are greedy and unethical.

I like the hygienists and dentist that I saw, but it was like pulling teeth (no pun intended! Wait, maybe I did intend that) to get information about fees and billing, and ultimately I don’t feel that my self-​determination as a patient was acknowledged or respected. I was given a quote for a filling that seemed high; when I asked about the billing breakdown, I was told it was because Preferred prefers to do porcelain fillings and my insurance wouldn’t cover much of it. I pay premiums and a deductible for my dental insurance already, so being told that my insurance would barely cover any of this was disheartening. But upon my inquiring further, I learned that a metal filling *would* be mostly covered by my insurance – which would cut my out-​of-​pocket charge almost in half. When I asked why this wasn’t offered to me as an option, I was told «patients aren’t usually given the option» of metal v. porcelain fillings. I was puzzled by this, said that didn’t make sense to me, and suggested that if Preferred’s policy is not to present treatment options to their patients, their policy needs to change. In response, I got a long silence followed by the employee saying, «Okay,» in a way that was clearly intended to brush me off, followed by a hasty goodbye. There was no acknowledgment of my concern, no apology, no assurance that this would be conveyed to a supervisor. I cancelled my appointment and will not be going back here.

I went in knowing nothing about this place except that I had a chipped front tooth and I needed it fixed ASAP. I made a Zoc Doc appointment with Dr. Rajesh Kamdar. I didn’t love the initial feeling that there were so many departments and desks, «financing, appointments, etc.» Felt very corporate. But that’s just because I think I’m used to small family-​run offices and so are a lot of these other reviewers. It was clean, efficient and run a bit like a well-​oiled machine. That could be pretty frightening as I don’t want to feel like cattle being pushed along. The thing that made all the difference was once I received treatment. Dr. Kamdar had a wonderfully calm and deliberate demeanor that made me feel like I wasn’t just a number. He took his time to explain why my previous bonding had chipped and how it might chip again. He then took twice the time it took my previous dentist to get the bonding just right. He filed and filed and tested my bite over and over again until he was satisfied. I was, too. I’d definitely see him again.

If I had a choice I would give them no stars. I have had the worse experience with this place and considering the city has tons of places to go for your teeth avoid it if you can.
I went here for a cleaning, after my x-​rays and cleaning was done, (which by the way I had to wait for 30 mins) when the hygienist went to call in the dentist to look at my x-​rays, I over heard her say that I need to wait 30 mins as she was in the middle of a procedure. really? So after waiting an hour of cleaning I am then going to wait another 30 mins just for her to see my x-​rays? Why did you book me at this time if you had other patients?
Secondly, when I got my bill, I was charged 22 for the dentist to come see me so I disputed this saying that I did not really get to see the dentist as she waited me to wait another 30 mins and I had to go back to work the response I got is, it does not matter as that’s the charge for the cleaning and dentist fees are included.
The sad thing is when they need to book you for an appointment, they are prompt on calling you but once you are there, they treat you like crap– they ensure you speak to the billing consultant first then see the dentist (that says a lot to me personally!).
My husband too had a similar experience where he had a constant complaint due a filling done wrongly and their remedy was that he needs to have an implantation ($ 4500 costs). He went to another dentist and they laughed and said implantation is the last option– he went through a simple root canal and he was fine after that.
Total sham and HORRIBLE dentists and customer service!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE read these reviews!!!
I had Dr. Maharaja and she ruined my teeth. I had a simple filling that she wanted to redo but she ended up drilling so deep that I started feeling nerve pain and now I might need a root canal. I wanted to go to better places but they didn’t take my insurance so i went here… big mistake. It ended up costing me more to go here then another dental office to get the shit that they wrecked fixed. Just so so awful. I wish I had read the Unilocal reviews. I went to tribeca dental design and they were able to fix 90% of the pain that I experienced after preferred dental. If you can read and if you care about your dental health go anywhere but here. ANYWHERE! I never write reviews but I want to save people from a similar painful experience. It’s literally the worst experience with any kind of service related business I have ever dealt with. PLEASE never come here!!!

Id like to give them ZERO stars!!!
This review is LONG overdue but… i went here a few months ago, for a consult for invisalign. Its quite a distance from my job so i was told over they phone that i can fax in the new pt paperwork so i wouldnt have a long wait when i came in, on my lunch break.
When i arrived, no one could seem to find my paperwork. after i filled out the new set, i had to wait over 40 mins to be seen (eventhough i had an appt)
During the consult the dentist told me i had 2 cavities and needed to have them filled before i could get the invisalign. Instead of working out a payment plan with me they wanted me to apply for their financing program, which i declined.
Then the dentist made a comment to me, saying he doesnt know why people dont just get their dental work when its needed instead of delaying it. I told him, dental work isnt cheap so maybe not everyone can afford to have proceedures done as necessary. he told me that was no excuse. so i said to him if thats the case, then are you willing to do free dental work? he just rolled his eyes.
He then said he needed to test my teeth for sensitivity and was about to use some sharp tool to «poke» my teeth. I asked him if it would hurt bc i dont like pain and was already feeling very anxious. He got annoyed and actualled YELLED AT ME and told me to stop being a baby, and just open my mouth so he can do what he needs to do. At that point, i was done.
I definitely would NOT recommend them to anyone.

DO NOT GO HERE! I will be calling the better business bureau very soon about this place.
I’m from CT and went to this place because I had some minor tooth pain and didn’t feel like commuting all the way back home to get it looked at. I work down the street, so I figured it’d be a quick fix. First, like many have said, the employees are like sales people. It lierally looks like a college financial aid office. I’ve never seen 4 receptionists at once, at 4 different booths, handling different responsibilities– is it really that hard? In the end, each seemingly had to do with money. I was told that because my insurance is based out of network, I have to pay 10% of all services. This already seemed scammy.
I had to pay 10 dollars for my cleaning which was alright. However I don’t really know what was cleaned. I waited about an hour to be seen, 20 minutes of that just sitting in the dentist chair. The cleaning was way too short for comfort. This older Russian blondish woman barely touched my teeth. I felt like nothing was done AT ALL. She told me I had great teeth. I usually hear the typical «Floss or die!» lecture, but nope nothing.
Then the head doctor, the Indian guy «with gentle eyes» as someone describes below, (more like dollar signs in his eyes) tells me the pain is due to having 4 cavities. 3 on one side and 1 on the other. I mean, it sort of makes sense because I had been having pain and my mouth has always been prone to cavities all my life, but really… 4?
He also mentioned nothing about my wisdom teeth. Weird because I had already been told last summer to get them taken out by my home dentist. This is where the story gets juicy. After paying 135 dollars for 2 cavities to get filled on my lower right side and another two appointments in the future (February to be exact) to take care of the other 2 cavities… About 2 weeks later (this past Monday before my next two appointments) I start feeling awful pain on the same side my cavities were filled. I decide that this definitely seems weird that it’s coming from somewhere different than what «gentle eyes» has said so I start researching second opinions.
I go to dentist in the park slope Brooklyn area where I live. HE is incredibly knowledgeable and kind. he takes a look at my teeth and tells me first off, I have NO other cavities he can notice and he doesn’t know what they were talking about. Therefore preferred gentle eyes LIED to get another 135 out of my pocket. He then takes an xray of the side that hurts and discovers a cavity in my wisdom tooth!!! He tells me I should just go to a oral surgeon and get the tooth removed.
SO how is it possible that gentle eyes did not notice a huge cavity in my wisdom tooth (which would grant him ZERO dollars with a procedure done because it’s an oral surgeons job) but notice 2 if not 4 make believe cavities on other teeth in my mouth which would ring me up to over $ 250 into his pocket??? I wonder if those first two «cavities» I got filled were even cavities at all, or he was just drilling into nothing. Seems like a scam to me!
If you’re still not convinced to not go to this dump, prepare to wait over an hour to be seen for a cleaning, then hopped from one chair to another, have to spit into a sink that is shared with another customer who just watches you and have to pay out of pocket even with insurance. Fyi the new place in brooklyn I go to completely covers all my procedures, out of network or not. It’s my fault for not taking these other bad reviews seriously and trusting people on my teeth. I just hope others don’t make the same mistake and start paying for procedures they don’t even need.

I had the worst experience with Preferred Dental. I had a root canal done on one of my front upper tooth, the tooth thats the most visible when i smile or talk. They did the worst crown for it ever. First of all, It was a totally wrong shade, secondly, it was longer than the rest of my front teeth, I was sooo embarrassed to look into the mirror, I told the Doctor and he was absolutely indifferent, i was left looking like a bunny rabbit. I didnt dare go back to them ever again after that, Did not want them to touch my teeth. Dont even think about going to them. I’d not even give them one star.

I am going to preface this review with the fact that I grew up with an uncle who’s a pediatric dentist, so up until a few years ago, I just went to him when I’d go home for the holidays. My entire life I’ve been very on top of cleanings and dental care, and generally haven’t had any problems aside from one or two small cavities.
That said, I started going to Preferred Dental Care a couple of years ago when I couldn’t get in for an appointment while home. I’d never been to a non-​pediatric dentist before, so I wasn’t used to the «power washer» (I’m sure it’s not called that, but I’m talking about that high powered water shooter that feels like needles being scraped across where gum meets teeth). At first I thought it was just that I wasn’t used to it (pediatric dentists are understandably much more gentle), but I have to think at this point that the hygienists are not the most gentle in the field, to say the least. That stuff HURTS.
Secondly, I am in the habit of getting x-​rays once every 12 – 18 months, since I do not have a history of problems. My dentist uncle has told me repeatedly that x-​rays more frequently are not necessary and not good for you, not to mention that it’s likely not even covered by dental insurance (aside from once per year). Despite this, every 6 months when I’ve gone in for an appointment, they do not ask me if I want x-​rays, they just proceed like it’s a given, and I have to refuse the x-​rays vehemently. At this point, they tell me that it’s pointless to actually see the dentist himself, if he cannot look at the x-​rays. This seems like BS to me. The dentist could and should take the time to check my teeth out himself and not leave it all to the hygienists.
Lastly, the receptionists call you over and over and over again if you cancel your appointment. I understand the whole sales thing, but when you are told that I will call back when I want to reschedule, leave me alone, for the love of God.
Thus, at this point, I will not be returning.

This place is a scam. All they want is your money, especially if you are paying out of pocket like I did.
I used a Lifebooker Loot certificate to get an exam and xrays and was told I had 4 cavities, 2 on the same tooth that would cost me $ 170 a pop. After a oral surgery consult I was told I need to get my wisdom teeth taken out, even though they don’t bother me, and that the surgery would most likely break my jaw and I would have to get a bone transplant??? I ended up getting 2 of the cavities filled bc they said they were urgent and was pushed into doing them right away. But I’m sure I could’ve waited.
This freaked me out so I requested my xrays so i could get another opinion and my new dentist said that the cavity I had filled still has a cavity, the one tooth Preferred Dental said has two cavities only has one and that I don’t need my wisdom tooth out.
So if you want to be lied to, hassled, and have bad fillings done, this is the place to go!

While the clerical staff can be a bit aggressive (but never rude) with scheduling your appointments, I can’t really fault them… this IS a business to make money.
Every staff member I’ve encountered has been pleasant and patient. The hygienist I always choose, Irene, is thorough and explains every portion of the exam and procedure (s). The Dr’s demonstrate pleasant bedside (chairside?) manner each & every visit so far. All of this, coupled with their willingness to work with the pricing plans, make them a prime choice for dental care.

I decided to try out Preferred Dental Care after purchasing a Groupon for an exam and cleaning. I was a little taken aback by the fact that they didn’t have individual rooms but rather stations separated by curtains. It was fairly embarrassing to be in plain view of every patient who walked down the hallway with my mouth agape and drool everywhere. The «exam» consisted of a doctor (I don’t even know his name since he never bothered to introduce himself) glancing at my teeth for about 10 seconds before informing me I had 3 cavities.
The cleaning was done by a dental hygienist who was fairly gentle but did not seem very thorough. I’ve never had a cleaning last less than 20 minutes but she had me out of there in half that time which made me nervous.
I ended up deciding not to get my cavities filled there since I didn’t like the rushed manner in which they seem to do all their services. I called the office to request my xrays so I could take them to the new dentist and they told me it would cost me $ 95! I was livid. I’ve never been charged for access to my own xrays but after some googling I found it’s fairly standard practice in NY. However the going rate seems to be around $ 35 for the service. I ended up just getting new xrays done and the dentist told me I only had 1 cavity that needed to be filled.
Moral of the story; they won’t do a very good job and they’ll try to charge you as much as they can. Save yourself the hassle and go somewhere else.

After suffering from the most intense toothache for a little over a week I called to schedule a dreaded dentist visit. (All non-​insured dentistry patients should be able to claim expenses from their parents for the poor genes they handed down, right?) After explaining the pain and my need for speed in seeing a dentist, I got an appointment wit Dr Kamdar for the next day. Dr Kamdar is a kind, wise Indian dentist with great bedside manner and gentle, gentle eyes. He informed me that I was in dire need of a root canal treatment and helped me schedule one for three days later with Dr Bruckner, an Endodontist (Root Canal specialist — wonder what made him decide to go into that field???)
He then prescribed me some super strong painkillers and sent me on my merry way. Root Canal treatment was a walk in the park (or as walk-​ey as Root Canal surgery can be!) and the rates were below industry average. They even threw in a 10% discount when I asked if they were able to.
I never felt that I was being forced into treatments I didn’t want, I was treated with respect and friendliness. Beautiful brand new rooms and a team of professionals.
It was a really good experience — as good as a visit to the dentist could be! Highly recommended.